Dh3N 34
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HNC SOCIAL CARE
Sociology for social care practise
Lee McHugh
DH3N 34
Introduction
This essay will discuss the “modern family Structures” within society and explore the lack of any “normal” or standard family. Using existing sociology perspectives this essay will further discuss modern behaviours, experiences and life chances within a specific family unit and how they fit the existing theories. Finaly the author will evaluate the usefulness if any of these theories and how they can be used in a coherent manner to explain the impact they have on a family unit and in turn what impact the family has on the individual.
Normal Family?
The image people have of a family is still the so called Nuclear family (1) popularised by sociologist such as George Murdoch(2) with parents of both sexes and one or more children with the father usually being the primary finical provider. This is no longer as common as it once was (3) and has lead to the rise of other family archetypes.
These different family types are varied and include but are not limited to examples such as the extended family (4) where you have parents usually unmarried living in the same household but with other close family members helping with the rearing of the children perhaps grandparents, aunties and uncles etc. This example also may or may not live within the same household but tend to very close to each other.
There are also more households with a single parent (5) now than anytime within the last ten years. The single parent household tends to be single mothers although it can also be single fathers with one or more children. The single parent tends to be the primary care giver of the child/children both emotionally and financially.
There is also now a rise in same sex families as with partners of the same gender sharing the responsibilities of parenting in both a financial and emotional sense. This is becoming more common (6) in
HNC SOCIAL CARE
Sociology for social care practise
Lee McHugh
DH3N 34
Introduction
This essay will discuss the “modern family Structures” within society and explore the lack of any “normal” or standard family. Using existing sociology perspectives this essay will further discuss modern behaviours, experiences and life chances within a specific family unit and how they fit the existing theories. Finaly the author will evaluate the usefulness if any of these theories and how they can be used in a coherent manner to explain the impact they have on a family unit and in turn what impact the family has on the individual.
Normal Family?
The image people have of a family is still the so called Nuclear family (1) popularised by sociologist such as George Murdoch(2) with parents of both sexes and one or more children with the father usually being the primary finical provider. This is no longer as common as it once was (3) and has lead to the rise of other family archetypes.
These different family types are varied and include but are not limited to examples such as the extended family (4) where you have parents usually unmarried living in the same household but with other close family members helping with the rearing of the children perhaps grandparents, aunties and uncles etc. This example also may or may not live within the same household but tend to very close to each other.
There are also more households with a single parent (5) now than anytime within the last ten years. The single parent household tends to be single mothers although it can also be single fathers with one or more children. The single parent tends to be the primary care giver of the child/children both emotionally and financially.
There is also now a rise in same sex families as with partners of the same gender sharing the responsibilities of parenting in both a financial and emotional sense. This is becoming more common (6) in